Ailing BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion has announced plans to delay the launch of its new BlackBerry 10 operating system until 2013 after cutting 5,000 jobs.

RIM CEO Thorsten Heins has announced plans to delay the new Blackberry 10 (Picture: REUTERS)

The announcement comes after the Canadian company posted worse-than-expected quarterly losses totalling $518m (£330m).

It’s a further blow for RIM in its bid to reverse the company’s fortunes, with Canadian media suggesting it had reached ‘breaking point.’

The company’s share price also looks set to hit a nine-year low today having already dropped 14 per cent following the announcement.

RIM chief executive Thorsten Heins admitted he was delivering ‘a lot of tough news’ in a conference call to analysts, but said the company’s poor financial performance meant he ‘would not compromise on the issue’.

The unexpected delay could be a fatal setback to RIM’s future with the new BlackBerry 10 operating system considered crucial to reviving its flagging fortunes.

Research in Motion share price looks set to hit a nine-year-low (Picture: Reuters/Mark Blinch)

However Heins remains insistent that the tough decision is the right one for the company.

‘I will not deliver a product to the market that is not ready to meet the needs of our customers,’ he said. ‘There will be no compromise on this issue.’

RIM’s cutting of 5,000 jobs, 30 per cent of its workforce, is part of a previously announced plan to save one billion US dollars (£770m) in annual costs this year.

‘It is necessary to change the scale and refocus the company,’ Mr Heins said.

‘I fully understand the impact a workforce reduction of this size has on our employees and the communities in which we operate.

‘I assure you that we wouldn’t move forward with a change of this size if we didn’t think it was critical for our future.’

Struggling: RIM hopes it new operating system will help revive the company’s fortunes (Picture: Getty)

He added: ‘This was a challenging quarter for the company on many fronts and I am not satisfied with the financial performance we are reporting today.’

While Heins hopes BlackBerry 10 will save the company, many analysts believe the, now delayed, launch has come too late to rescue RIM.